


Good Morning to You

by Lauralot



Series: Daddy Issues [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Dark, Dark Steve Rogers, Disabled Character, Gen, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 06:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5406713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lauralot/pseuds/Lauralot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain HYDRA tries his hand at parenting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In the previous fic, _If You Can't Play Nice_ , I wrote a Captain HYDRA who was very annoyed by James and wanted nothing more than to be rid of his presence. Which was really fun to write, but I thought it would also be interested to explore a Captain HYDRA who wanted a miniature Bucky Barnes all to himself, so this happened.
> 
> This is just a "what if" AU one shot. It is not a plot point in the overall series.

He doesn’t feel the ice anymore.

It’s still there, of course. Dripping from his body once he exits the cryo-tank, stinging his extremities and sparkling on the ends of his lashes. Waking from cryo hasn’t bothered him in decades. Steve would welcome the bracing cold and the focus it provided. But now that focus has shifted.

And it’s impossible to care about the cold when James is here to warm him.

Shoving the technicians aside, Steve scoops the boy’s small, shivering body up in his arms, holding him close. “James,” he says. “Wake up, little lamb. Your bears have missed you.”

Teeth chattering, James opens his eyes.

Later, when the boy is dried off and wrapped in blankets, Steve pulls him onto his lap. “I have a mission, child,” he says. “I have to keep the world safe.”

James nods, wide-eyed and solemn. Such a brave little boy. He’s never complained at Steve’s absences. For all of Captain _America’s_ failings in the other world, the man did teach James the importance of missions.

“But I will read to you before I go,” Steve continues. “What story do you want to hear?”

“Can it be Sleeping Beauty?” James asks around the straw of his juice box.

“Of course it can.”

Sleeping Beauty was the story Steve told James when he first brought him here where he belonged. “You’ll be like her,” he had said. “Perfect and unchanging in the ice, and having beautiful dreams with me beside you. You will never wake without me there.”

“So I won’t get any older?” James had whispered. His face had been red and streaked with tears at the loss of his old home, but he had stopped sniffling at that, looking at Steve with hope for the first time.

“Never, child. The Bucky in this world grew up to be weak and a failure. You will stay small and perfect.”

James has adjusted better than Steve could have hoped, and without the use of the chair. All the better; its power may have caused irreparable damage to the boy’s mind. James is so easy to keep content: all he needs are the bears, his youth, and Steve’s presence.

The miserable wretch calling himself Rogers in that other world must have been a failure, for James to change his allegiances so quickly. Or perhaps the child is simply clever enough to recognize the superior man when he sees him. Sometimes James still cries for his older counterparts, but in time he will forget. Or maybe Bucky is still alive in this world as well. Perhaps Steve can find him and remold him in the chair. Make him a silent, constant comfort for James when Steve is in the field.

When the mission is over, he washes the blood from himself and returns to the lab. James sits on the floor, Bucky Bear and Captain HYDRAbear in his lap.

“Daddy!” he says, throwing his hands up for a hug. “Daddy, I missed you!”

Steve picks him up and spins him around. “I missed you, little lamb,” he says. “Would you like to hear how I helped to save the world this time?”

James nods rapidly. “Tell me tell me please!”

So Steve does. The boy barely goes pale when he speaks of his kills this time, and that makes Steve smile. Let Captain America and his band of so-called heroes find this world, if they’re able. They will never take James from him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Murphy's condition in this chapter is again inspired by _The Mirror of Life_ , in which Steve states that Murphy was badly injured but does not elaborate on the nature of his injuries.

Romanoff and Stark are both glaring as if they want to gouge his eyes out.

Granted, SHIELD did incarcerate this world’s Romanoff and confiscate Stark’s suits, but Pierce feels their doppelgangers’ hatred runs deeper than that.

Not that they’d be foolish enough to try anything. It’s only because of Pierce’s lenience that they’re not in custody themselves.

“We’ve had the boy for two weeks,” he says. “We found him in a cryostasis pod along with Steven Rogers during a raid on a suspected HYDRA base. We managed to revive him while keeping Rogers under. He calls himself James Rogers.”

James Barnes is the child that the doppelgangers came to find. He’s an exact replica of the Summer Soldier, from the length of his hair right down to the metal arm grafted onto his left shoulder. And he seems every bit as unstable.

When he first defrosted, Pierce had come to see him. He wasn’t cooperating with the doctors, crying for Rogers, and Pierce had enough experience with his own daughter and his grandchildren that he’d been confident in his ability to at least calm the boy down, if not get answers out of him. Pierce expected him to be a child that Rogers had abducted and mutilated to fulfill some sick longing for his old friend. Their priority was getting this boy home.

But the child had only gotten worse in Pierce’s presence. He went sickly white, whimpering and trying to hide beneath the examination table. “You’re not real,” he’d said over and over again. “You’re not real.” And when that mantra had failed to make Pierce vanish, the boy had begun sobbing and apologizing. “I’m so sorry, Daddy,” he’d said, and it made Pierce’s blood run cold.

He’d left the child in Agent Murphy’s care. Murphy, struggling to adapt to life out of the field after Rogers snapped his spine, had seemed grateful for the distraction.

And then these two arrived from another dimension and they’re looking at Pierce with such palpable hatred that it’s almost painful.

He doesn’t ask what the Pierce in their world had done, either to the world or to the boy. He doesn’t want to know.

“We don’t know how long Rogers had him,” Pierce continues, meeting their eyes. “Because the boy was in cryostasis, he hasn’t aged. Nor do we know the extent of what Rogers may have done to him. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t recognize you. Captive children are extremely suggestible.”

Romanoff makes a sound like a growl, and Pierce doesn’t question it.

The Barnes boy is in an empty conference room with Murphy. Murphy’s sitting on the floor, his wheelchair parked beside him, and together he and the child are stroking a small Siamese kitten. Pierce doesn’t recall the agent having any pets. Only Murphy would decide that adjusting to life as a paraplegic meant more time for animals.

“Director,” Murphy says. He starts to haul himself into his chair, but Pierce waves a hand to stop him. The child is whimpering at the sight of him, as always, hiding behind his teddy bears.

“His family’s arrived,” Pierce says, beckoning Stark and Romanoff in. “To take him home. James, Tony and Natasha are here for you.”

One eye peeks over top of a bear’s head. It disappears just as quickly.

“Hey, tiger.” Stark settles onto the floor beside him. “It’s me and Tasha. Ready to go home? Daddy and Bucky and Winter and all the other bears are really excited to see you.”

The boy shakes his head.

“Nobody’s mad at you, James. And Captain HYDRA’s all locked up now. He can’t get you again.”

“You’re not real,” the boy whispers.

“What?”

“You’re not real,” he repeats, raising his head. “You’re just a dream. Daddy said so.”

“James.” Romanoff now. Her voice breaks as she speaks, pulling the child onto her lap. “He is _not_ your father. We’re real, and we’re taking you home.”

“I have a lot of bad dreams ‘cause I sleep for so long.” He’s struggling to get free. “You’re just one of those and you can’t take me away from my daddy.”

“Agent Murphy,” Pierce says softly. “I think it would be best if we left.”

Murphy nods, getting back into the chair.

“We’ll leave you alone,” Pierce says, as gently as he can manage. “Whenever things are...settled, and you need to leave the building, let me know.”

Stark nods. Still trying to soothe the child, they don’t even glance at Pierce as he makes his exit.

He prefers it that way.


End file.
